Controversy is still brewing over whether or not former Magistrate and now Attorney-at-Law, Gordon Gilhuys, should be allowed to represent his client in a rape case after allegations were made against him that he tried to get the police to alter statements of the victim’s family.
INews understands that Gilhuys, who was also a senior police officer in previous years, had been brought in for questioning about the offence at a police station in ‘E’ Division (Linden, Region 10) yesterday.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed that the lawyer was taken into police custody on Tuesday and questioned about the allegation.
After denying the claim made by a junior police rank Gilhuys was released on station bail but investigations are still on-going into the matter.
Meanwhile, a prominent Attorney-at-Law told INews today that this is not the first occasion in which Gilhuys has landed himself in some kind of controversy, he disclosed that the former Magistrate is presently before the Guyana Legal Practitioners’ Committee (LPC) for another matter.
“He shouldn’t even be representing his client in this rape case because now he has been considered as ‘tainted’. The rules for disciplining lawyers is far too loose and even the rules for the Bar Association should be stricter considering that it has to deal with such matters as well…while one is innocent until proven guilty, and the burden of proof always lies on the prosecution, good sense ought to prevail about whether he should be allowed to represent the client at this point in time,” the lawyer told INews today.
Gilhuys is said to be representing a young man in his 20s who allegedly raped an underage female late last year. However, the police only received the report about the crime in early 2016.
Reports are that Gilhuys allegedly approached a policeman with the intention of getting him to speak with the mother of the rape victim and persuade her to drop the charge against his client.
